China Labour Bulletin appears in the following article. Copyright remains with the original publisher.
China still struggling with mine safety
By Elaine Kurtenbach in Shanghai
Associated Press
26 February 2006
The best that can be said of the Sunjiawan coal mine explosion, China's worst mining disaster in 60 years, is that it could have been worse.
The methane explosion that roared through the shaft in northeastern China's Liaoning province on Valentine's Day a year ago, killing 214 people, spurred alarm over the perilous conditions at even relatively modern, state-run mines, despite years of pledges to improve the situation. Survivors said that if the explosion had not occurred at shift change, twice as many could have died.
The disaster prompted a Cabinet-level investigation and cost the mine boss and a top provincial official their jobs. But a year later, it's unclear there have been any significant improvements in safety, even at Sunjiawan.
"The situation is still appalling," says Tim Wright, an expert on China's coal industry at Britain's University of Sheffield. "It looks as if it is improving a bit, but it's still massively worse than elsewhere."
China's coal mines are the world's deadliest, accounting for about 80 percent of all such fatalities anywhere. There were 5,986 miners killed in 3,341 explosions, fires and floods in 2005 — about the same as in 2004. Sixteen miners die every day on average, three-quarters of them in the 23,000 small, private mines that produce about 40 percent of China's coal, sometimes little more than holes in the ground.
The government has ordered thousands of mines closed, joined international training and safety programs, outlawed officials from owning shares in mining operations and begun offering awards to whistleblowers for tips on unsafe mine operations.
But as coal production doubled over the past five years, exceeding 2.1 billion tons last year, calamities like Sunjiawan have prevented top leaders from claiming real progress in making mines safer.
"They're making miners work excessively long shifts. They have too many miners underground," says Robin Munro, research director at the Hong Kong-based China Labor Bulletin.
Conditions in U.S., European and Australian mines have improved dramatically since the dark days of the 1800s — helped by a shift to surface mining. Not in China, where most the country's methane-rich coal is mined deep underground.
Elsewhere, labor, industry and governments have worked together to improve safety. China bans independent labor unions, preventing miners from pushing for change.
Experts agree on what must be done: daily inspections; investment in safety equipment and training; heavy fines and criminal penalties for unsafe operations.
"What they need is some enforcement. More high-level directives from Beijing aren't going to do it," says Munro. He says compensation paid to victims' families should be raised from the current level of about $25,000 to five times that amount.
"Then the mine operators might take it seriously," Munro said.
A new program offering rewards of up to $1,200 for tips on mine safety violations has drawn about 100 calls, said Huang Yi, a spokesman for the State Administration of Coal Mine Safety.
"According to our investigations, many local officials, often ones in charge of safety supervision, provide useful information. Some miners also do, of course," Huang said. But he said most informants, fearing for their safety, opt to stay anonymous rather than take the rewards.
"The whistle blowing may help from time to time, but it's unlikely to address the real problem in the rural private mines, which is where the conditions are worst," Feickert said. "While demand for coal is high, and the price with it ... those mines will keep being dug wherever the coal is shallow enough to reach."
After 108 miners died in a Dec. 7 explosion at the Liuguantun mine in north China's Hebei province, investigators reported that the mine, which lacked ventilation and escape shafts, was operating illegally while still under construction.
For now, with coal prices at record highs, the temptation to dig is overpowering. "Farming one mou (a quarter of an acre) of land yields 100 yuan ($12) per harvest, while digging one night for coal can net 3,000 yuan ($370)," the Communist Party newspaper People's Daily said in a recent investigative report.
On Jan. 19, in the southern province of Guizhou, miners mistakenly tunneled from one illegal mine into another, waterlogged one, causing flooding that trapped nine people. Rescuers had only diesel generators; lacking enough power, they could not pump the tunnels dry in time to save the men, local reports said.
The government's investigation found numerous violations at the Sunjiawan mine, run by the Fuxin Mining Group, a state enterprise. Foremost was a lack of adequate ventilation tunnels in a mine known to have high concentrations of methane gas.
Its other mines already tapped out, Fuxin Mining is still expanding Sunjiawan, a showcase project for revitalizing China's crumbling Rust Belt meant to enhance safety and create about 3,000 new jobs.
"Sunjiawan Coal Mine was under extensive construction when the explosion occurred," confirmed An Yuanjie, a spokeswoman for the State Administration of Work Safety. She said the mine, which resumed operations last summer, is technically engaged in only "pilot production," even though its output before the accident was twice its authorized level of 900,000 tons a year, the probe found.
The mine's gas detection monitors were counterfeit and had been turned off for four months because they malfunctioned, the investigators' report showed. The blast was triggered by sparks from workers who were repairing the lights, without shutting off electricity as required.
Most of the mine's staff were untrained, illegally hired migrants from poorer areas in China.
The probe held 33 people responsible, among them a deputy provincial governor and the company's chairman, Liang Jinfa, who were dismissed, and four others who were charged. Details of their cases were not available.
Both local and national officials failed to respond to repeated requests for detailed information about what improvements, if any, were made before Sunjiawan reopened. An did say the mine needed to obtain a new safety certification before it could begin "formal mass production."
China still struggling with mine safety
By Elaine Kurtenbach in Shanghai
Associated Press
26 February 2006
The best that can be said of the Sunjiawan coal mine explosion, China's worst mining disaster in 60 years, is that it could have been worse.
The methane explosion that roared through the shaft in northeastern China's Liaoning province on Valentine's Day a year ago, killing 214 people, spurred alarm over the perilous conditions at even relatively modern, state-run mines, despite years of pledges to improve the situation. Survivors said that if the explosion had not occurred at shift change, twice as many could have died.
The disaster prompted a Cabinet-level investigation and cost the mine boss and a top provincial official their jobs. But a year later, it's unclear there have been any significant improvements in safety, even at Sunjiawan.
"The situation is still appalling," says Tim Wright, an expert on China's coal industry at Britain's University of Sheffield. "It looks as if it is improving a bit, but it's still massively worse than elsewhere."
China's coal mines are the world's deadliest, accounting for about 80 percent of all such fatalities anywhere. There were 5,986 miners killed in 3,341 explosions, fires and floods in 2005 — about the same as in 2004. Sixteen miners die every day on average, three-quarters of them in the 23,000 small, private mines that produce about 40 percent of China's coal, sometimes little more than holes in the ground.
The government has ordered thousands of mines closed, joined international training and safety programs, outlawed officials from owning shares in mining operations and begun offering awards to whistleblowers for tips on unsafe mine operations.
But as coal production doubled over the past five years, exceeding 2.1 billion tons last year, calamities like Sunjiawan have prevented top leaders from claiming real progress in making mines safer.
"They're making miners work excessively long shifts. They have too many miners underground," says Robin Munro, research director at the Hong Kong-based China Labor Bulletin.
Conditions in U.S., European and Australian mines have improved dramatically since the dark days of the 1800s — helped by a shift to surface mining. Not in China, where most the country's methane-rich coal is mined deep underground.
Elsewhere, labor, industry and governments have worked together to improve safety. China bans independent labor unions, preventing miners from pushing for change.
Experts agree on what must be done: daily inspections; investment in safety equipment and training; heavy fines and criminal penalties for unsafe operations.
"What they need is some enforcement. More high-level directives from Beijing aren't going to do it," says Munro. He says compensation paid to victims' families should be raised from the current level of about $25,000 to five times that amount.
"Then the mine operators might take it seriously," Munro said.
A new program offering rewards of up to $1,200 for tips on mine safety violations has drawn about 100 calls, said Huang Yi, a spokesman for the State Administration of Coal Mine Safety.
"According to our investigations, many local officials, often ones in charge of safety supervision, provide useful information. Some miners also do, of course," Huang said. But he said most informants, fearing for their safety, opt to stay anonymous rather than take the rewards.
"The whistle blowing may help from time to time, but it's unlikely to address the real problem in the rural private mines, which is where the conditions are worst," Feickert said. "While demand for coal is high, and the price with it ... those mines will keep being dug wherever the coal is shallow enough to reach."
After 108 miners died in a Dec. 7 explosion at the Liuguantun mine in north China's Hebei province, investigators reported that the mine, which lacked ventilation and escape shafts, was operating illegally while still under construction.
For now, with coal prices at record highs, the temptation to dig is overpowering. "Farming one mou (a quarter of an acre) of land yields 100 yuan ($12) per harvest, while digging one night for coal can net 3,000 yuan ($370)," the Communist Party newspaper People's Daily said in a recent investigative report.
On Jan. 19, in the southern province of Guizhou, miners mistakenly tunneled from one illegal mine into another, waterlogged one, causing flooding that trapped nine people. Rescuers had only diesel generators; lacking enough power, they could not pump the tunnels dry in time to save the men, local reports said.
The government's investigation found numerous violations at the Sunjiawan mine, run by the Fuxin Mining Group, a state enterprise. Foremost was a lack of adequate ventilation tunnels in a mine known to have high concentrations of methane gas.
Its other mines already tapped out, Fuxin Mining is still expanding Sunjiawan, a showcase project for revitalizing China's crumbling Rust Belt meant to enhance safety and create about 3,000 new jobs.
"Sunjiawan Coal Mine was under extensive construction when the explosion occurred," confirmed An Yuanjie, a spokeswoman for the State Administration of Work Safety. She said the mine, which resumed operations last summer, is technically engaged in only "pilot production," even though its output before the accident was twice its authorized level of 900,000 tons a year, the probe found.
The mine's gas detection monitors were counterfeit and had been turned off for four months because they malfunctioned, the investigators' report showed. The blast was triggered by sparks from workers who were repairing the lights, without shutting off electricity as required.
Most of the mine's staff were untrained, illegally hired migrants from poorer areas in China.
The probe held 33 people responsible, among them a deputy provincial governor and the company's chairman, Liang Jinfa, who were dismissed, and four others who were charged. Details of their cases were not available.
Both local and national officials failed to respond to repeated requests for detailed information about what improvements, if any, were made before Sunjiawan reopened. An did say the mine needed to obtain a new safety certification before it could begin "formal mass production."